Author: EmilyMair

Learning new techniques in Photoshop

Design ideas and design process

Idea 1

For idea 1, I combined a sunset sky  with a photo of The Kicking Horse river in Jasper. I used a clipping mask to remove the sky from the Jasper photo and then used the select options to contract and feather the edge of the mountain. I then went back onto the clipping mask and used the brush to pull the colour from the sunset into the remaining clouds on the Jasper photos, by using a soft brush at half opacity. Lastly, I changed the colour balance on the Jasper photo so that it looked more realistic with the orange sky, making it warmer and redder. I really like the sunset approach to this river, which was originally in full daylight, and the warmer atmosphere created.

Idea 2

In idea 2 I did a pink colour pop with one of the macaroons and applied a background blend of coffee beans. To do this I used the black and white layer adjustments mask and adjusted colour levels to make the macaroons stand out. I then used the select tool and a black brush to bring the pink macaroon back out. I experimented with black and white gradients on the layer mask to bring in edges of pink but I didn’t like the look of this. Instead, I selected the macaroons and duplicated them before placing a photo of coffee beans onto layer 0. I played with different blend modes and opacities, ending up with a subtle coffee bean print, suggesting that these are coffee flavour ed. I like the final macaroon design for its simpleness and cleanness, with the subtle coffee beans hinting at the flavour.

 

Idea 3

On design three I tried the splatter technique on a peacock image. I masked off the background of the peacock and then created a new layer. Using the keyboard shortcuts I and B I made splatters behind the peacock and on the layer mask of the peacock. I adjusted the brush settings to get different sizes of splatter. I really like this effect and it was surprisingly easy for how effective it is. I then put a photo of a forest behind it and did more of the same effect to unify the image.I think the peacock design is bright and refreshing and feels sort of magical, as the particles of colour fly around and disperse.

Software Tutorials

I enjoyed watching a wide range of videos on Photoshopping techniques for this project. I learnt a lot about layer masks, which I had not explored further than colour pop before, which are very useful for applying effects to only one part of an image. They also allow you to edit photos ‘non-destructively’, meaning that it is much easier to go back and edit/reselect areas of an image, possibly saving a lot of time. A useful shortcut I learned was that ‘x’ switches between black and white when using clipping masks.

I have a better understanding  how to create other effects such as splatter and glow, as well as the endless possibilities using blend modes. I also found out that command clicking on a layer selects just the layer. Here are the videos I found most useful:

How to Use Layer Masking: Photoshop | Adobe Creative Cloud – About masks

Transparent Clothes Effect | Photoshop Tutorial -More complex masking

Layer Masks For Beginners – Photoshop Tutorial – Again about masks

A Breakdown Of Blend Modes | Photoshop Tutorial – About blending modes

Glow Effect – Photoshop Tutorial | Glowing Effect  – Creating a glow effect

Photoshop tutorials | Splatter / Dispersion photo manipulation Tutorial – Splatter effect

Going forwards I will keep exploring these techniques so that I get more confident and competent at them. I will also continue to make use of the wide range of resources  available on platforms such as YouTube  and LinkedIn learning, as I think this is a great way to expand my knowledge.

Resources for research and inspiration

I actually got a lot of inspiration from just scrolling through Pixabay, which is the website I downloaded my images from. A lot of the nature images caught my eye, which is what led me to do the sunset river and the peacock design. I was also inspired by looking at other students’ work on the spring Padlet wall, as there was a wide range of techniques and subjects matters used which I found interesting and insightful to look at.

I had more specific sources of  inspiration for the coffee and macaroon design; I was scrolling through Behance and I found a couple of projects I liked the look of, one about macaroons and the other about coffee. I decided to combine aspects of the two as if they had collaborated on a coffee flavoured macaroon. I really like the typefaces used in both projects, which I think is what drew me to them. They also both also make use of subtle, pastel colour schemes and spacious, clean design styles. I tried to reciprocate this aesthetic in my Photoshop design, which I think could work well with the Behance project typefaces.

The Coffee project : https://www.behance.net/gallery/104379431/Habit-coffee?tracking_source=search_projects_recommended%7Ccoffee 

 

The Macaroon project: https://www.behance.net/gallery/108555483/Le-Dolci?tracking_source=search_projects_recommended%7Cmacaroon 

I learnt a lot about Photoshop and Indesign this term, but going forwards I need to continue learning how to navigate both programs as there is still a massive amount I do not know how to do. I was watching a recorded live stream for one of the Indesign projects, where one woman was saying that she had forced herself to learn everything about a new tool each day, working her way through Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator. I thought that this would be a really good idea that I might try over the summer – I think this would help me to feel a lot more confident with the Adobe Suite.

 

 

 

 

Designing Stickers in Illustrator

Design ideas and design process

 Idea 1: For my first design I decided to use a lightbulb to show the generation of ideas by graphic designers, as that is most likely the podcast’s target audience. I knew that I wanted to include letters or type of some sort as the podcast talks about type. I began by typing out letters, converting them to outlines and then trying to warp the letters into a lightbulb shape. I didn’t think this was very successful as the letters looked awkwardly squashed and the amount of white space was too much for the lightbulb shape to be clear enough.

I then tried drawing the shape of the lightbulb with the pen tool and using it creating a layer mask with it. This worked but I still didn’t think the shape was clear enough, so I image traced and then expanded a photo of a light bulb so that I could place this over the top. I then went in with the white arrow tool to clean some stray points up.
This is my favourite design as I think it represents the content of the podcast well without spelling it out, and when seen from far away still works.

Initial idea
Arranging letters
Experimenting with gradient fill on idea 1
Layer masking
Design 1

 

Idea 2: For idea 2 I wanted to try a simpler design based on type. I typed out ‘Typography and Graphic Communication’ and then experimented with typefaces, leading and tracking. I reduced the leading quite significantly to make the text appear as one unit and because it allows the text to be bigger within the same dimensions. I changed the colour of ‘typography’ so that the words could be differentiated. I then experimented with different compositions of the pen using the transform tool, but I settled with just one pen drawing a line as it was the clearest and allowed for a fair amount of white space, stopping the sticker looking crowded.

Experimenting with idea 2
Experimenting for idea 2
Design 2

 

Idea 3: I decided to go for the classic circle shape for this sticker. Using the pen tool I created some organic shapes and filled them with the freeform gradient for a bright and almost 3D effect. I used the layer mask to cut a circle out of it and then experimented with various typefaces for the ‘T&GC’. I went with a simple serif typeface in the end, so that it is easy to read and brings a touch of classiness to the sticker – sans serif looked more basic and since the other designs are sans serif I thought it would add some variation to my designs.

Creating freeform gradients in organic shapes
initial idea for text on idea 3
Experimenting for idea 3
Design 3
Final Ideas with cutcontourkiss and cutcontourperf layers.

 

Software Tutorials

I had used Illustrator a fair bit before so I knew the basics but I wanted to explore the dropdown menus further. I read a tutorial on how to create icons, from which I learnt how to use the ‘Effect > Distort and transform > Transform’ function. I tried this out on Design Two, and although it didn’t make the final design I think I will find this tool very useful in the future, particularly for creating circles made up of icons. I also used the dropdown menus to outline strokes and to lock and unlock objects, for which I have now learnt the keyboard shortcuts.

I then watched a tutorial about making stickers in Illustrator (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gh69t8mg8I) which reminded me about using swatches to get consistent colour schemes, and using linear gradients for tonal effect.

The next tutorial I watched was about freeform gradients ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhB5tTTLqDU ). I learnt about how you can use either points or lines to create 3D effects and multicoloured, organic gradients. I also watched several tutorials on using the pen tool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kAQUNFZJXY), which led me to ‘The Bezier Game’ ( https://bezier.method.ac ). This encourages you to practice making various shapes using the pen tool in as few clicks as possible – I found this very helpful and I have become a lot more confident with this tool now. I then combined my knowledge of freeform gradients and the pen tool to create organic shapes filled with gradients, before layering them up and layer masking them over a circle.

In the future I would like to learn more about the pathfinder tool and work out which icon does what, as I usually just use trial and error to achieve the effect I want, which is more time consuming than it needs to be.

 

Resources for research and inspiration

Firstly, I looked at some sticker designs on Google to get a feel for proportions and the sort of images used. A common factor was that they used colour and large text where it needed to be readable; circles also seemed to be a popular choice when it came to shape.

I had a flick through Behance to gather some inspiration on typefaces, colour schemes and how to layout different elements, for example after looking at one of the articles I knew I wanted to make use of white space, which I did in Design 2. I was then looking at my boards and decided to have another look at  Vasjen Katro’s work, a designer I really like (http://shop.baugasm.com). This is where I got the idea for the freeform gradients as he uses a lot of fresh 3D effects which look similar, with bright/pastel colour schemes.

A  topic I would like to explore further is effects on type – for example text looking worn or ripped or textured. I think this is probably a job for Photoshop, after the text has been made in Illustrator. Typography is my main interest and this  would add another element to my stickers and would allow me to create stickers that are purely typography with effect over it – I felt that my other stickers were too boring without some sort of illustration as well.  On my Google search I saw some that used just type with an effect on it and I thought they were very effective designs, so I will look into how this is done.